The Natural Language Processing Track

The Natural Language Processing (NLP) track is intended for students who wish to gain expertise in NLP technologies and applications. NLP technologies are of central importance in automating the analysis of text and speech databases and in enabling man-machine interactions through natural language. This track will help you develop leading edge knowledge of these technologies.

1. Overall Requirements

Students must complete at least a total of 30 graduate credits.

  1. Fulfill the 12-credit core requirement

  2. COMS W4701 is a prerequisite for this track

  3. 3 courses (9 credits) are required by the track: COMS W4705 (NLP), COMS W4706 (Spoken Language Processing), and COMS E6998 (Advanced NLP Topics)

  4. 2 elective courses (6 credits) selected from the list of section 4; at least one of these courses must be a 6000-level CS course

  5. 1 general elective graduate CS course (3 credits) at 4000 level or above

  6. Students using Special Considerations to credit previous courses in fulfilling core or track requirements may complete the 30 graduate credits by expanding their electives beyond the base track requirements above

For the 12-credit core requirement, students take four courses from the following six:

COMS W4115 Programming Languages & Translators

COMS W4118 Operating Systems 1

COMS W4156 Advanced Software Engineering

CSOR W4231 Analysis of Algorithms 1

COMS W4701 Artificial Intelligence

CSEE  W4824 Computer Architecture

2. Pre-requisites

Candidates must complete the core course COMS-W4701 or equivalent courses, to develop a fundamental understanding of AI.

3. Required Track Courses

Candidates are required to complete the following three courses:

Course ID

Title

 Fall 2009**Spring
2010** 		 Fall 2010**

COMS W4705

Natural Language Processing

Offered

 Offered

 

 

COMS W4706

 

Spoken Language Processing

 

Offered

 

COM E6998

Topic courses that focus on NLP

 Offered

 

 


Students who have completed equivalent courses with grades of at least 3.0 may apply these courses to satisfy these requirements and devote more credits to pursue elective courses.

4. Elective Track Courses

Candidates are required to complete two (2) courses out of the following list*; at least one course must be a 6000-level CS course.
Since other departments vary their offerings considerably from year to year, it is possible to count such courses toward the M.S. degree; please propose courses you think might be suitable to the track advisor.

Course ID

Title

 Fall 2009**
 Spring
2010** 		 Fall 2010**

COMS W4170

User Interface Design

 Offered

 

 

COMS W4172

3D User Interfaces

 

Offered

 

COMS W4252

Introduction to Computational Learning Theory

 Offered

 

 

COMS W4771

Machine Learning

 

 Offered

 

COMS E6901

Projects in Computer Science

 Offered

 Offered

 Offered

COMS E6998 

Search Engine Technology

 

 

 

COMS E6998 

Network Theory

 

 

 

SIEO W4150

Probability and Statistics

 Offered

 

 

ELEN E4810

Digital Signal Processing

 Offered

 

 

ELEN E6829

Speech/Audio Processing-Recognition

 

 

 

PSYC G4232

Production and Perception of Language

 

 

 

PSYC G4275

Contemporary Topics in Language and Communication

 

 

 

PSYC G4205

Models of Cognition

 

 

 

PSYC G4470

Psychology and Neuropsychology of Language

 

 

 

PSYC G6006

Introduction to Statistical Modeling in Psychology

 Offered

 

 

Please visit the Directory of Classes to get the updated course listings.

5. General Electives

Candidates are required to complete at least one Columbia graduate course, approved by the Track Advisor.

6. Contact

Please direct all questions concerning the NLP Track to Prof. .

7. Graduation

Candidates preparing for graduation should submit a completed application for degree to the Registrar's Office and submit a track graduation form to C.S. Student Services (an example of a completed form is available here).


 

*The list of electives may be updated to reflect changes in the schedule of course offerings.

**Please note that these course offerings are listed on a provisional basis only and may change from what is listed here.

Last updated 7/23/2009.